This is the (updated 25/02/2025) story of Lieutenant John Watson McCash, his missions, and the broader narrative of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during 1917. McCash’s two missions during the Battle of Cambrai provides a vivid picture of the challenges and heroism of the time. It captures the bravery, skill, and sacrifice of these young men who took to the skies in primitive aircraft, facing not only enemy fire but also the inherent dangers of early aviation technology.
This story of John Watson McCash is one of courage, innovation, and sacrifice. It reminds us of the human cost of war and the extraordinary feats that ordinary people are capable of in extraordinary circumstances. I hope this story will inspire, educate and keep the memory of this very brave man alive for generations to come.
Research and Story by Ken Bruce
McCash transferred from the Black Watch to the RFC in 1917 and mastered the notoriously difficult Sopwith Camel, a plane with a reputation for being both deadly and dangerous. His participation in the Battle of Cambrai, where he faced off against the elite German pilots of the “Flying Circus,” underscores his skill and bravery.
The RFC’s mission in 1917 had evolved from reconnaissance and artillery spotting of earlier years to include ground attack roles, particularly during the Battle of Cambrai. This shift required pilots to fly at dangerously low altitudes, exposing them to ground fire and the increased the risk of being shot down.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash was one of a rare breed who rode his flying machine high and low above the land-locked armies in France and Belgium. A groundbreaking deed, unique in the history of mankind until then. He was one the first mortals ever to give battle in the vast spaces of the sky. One of winged youngsters of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service who were the elite of fighting men. John Watson McCash’s peers were the very “best of the best”.
These daring pilots of WW1 looked as if in their secret confederacy of flight, to be set apart from other fighting men, indeed from all other men. ‘They are the knighthood of this war, without fear and without reproach: they recall the legendary days of chivalry not merely by the daring of their exploits but by the nobility of their spirit.’ Declared the British leader of the time, David Lloyd George.
Lieutenant McCash’s story deserves to be remembered, as a tale of remarkable individual heroism. It gives a window into a time when aerial combat was still in its infancy. His sacrifice, along with that of so many of his peers, laid the foundation for modern air warfare and aviation as we know it today.
John Watson McCash
Lieutenant John Watson McCash, born in 1893, was the 24-year-old son of William F McCash (Grain Merchant, J McCash & Son) and Alice H McCash, Cornhill House, Jeanfield Road, Perth. The firm of J. McCash & Sons, Dovecotland, Perth have been supplying animal feed since 1746. Lieutenant McCash was also the nephew of J B McCash, Solicitor, Perth.
John Watson McCash was educated at Perth Academy, Clifton Bank School, St Andrews, and the University of St Andrews. He studied civil engineering and worked for the Caledonian Railway Company in Perth.
McCash enlisted in the Scottish Horse, a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army’s, Territorial Army. The Scottish Horse fought as the 13th Battalion of The Black Watch during the First World War (1914 – 1918). McCash was promoted to corporal and was later commissioned, (gazetted in October 1913) into the Black Watch, 6th Battalion, as Lieutenant. He was then attached in April 1917 to the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot serving with No. 3 Squadron.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash of the 6th Black Watch was attached at the time of his death to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), his first awesome combat mission was on 20 November 1917.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash was killed on 23 November 1917 flying on a combat patrol over Bourlon Wood, near Cambrai by the Jasta 5 ace pilot, Vizefeldwebel Fritz Rumey.
McCash was reported as missing in the Perthshire Advertiser on Wednesday 5 December 1917.
Bloody April
At the time of McCash’s secondment into the Royal Flying Corps in April 1917, the British and Canadians were launching assaults in the Arras and Vimy areas. Whilst the RFC was fighting a desperate battle in the air and was losing superiority over the German air forces. During what was to be called, not without cause, Bloody April. Between 245 and 275 allied aircraft were lost in April 1917, with 411 casualties, 50% which were fatal. The RFC lost a third of their total fighting strength. The German side lost 66 aircraft, an over four to one kill rate.
Between March and May 1917, 1,270 aircraft were destroyed or failed to return. During one five-day period in April 1917, 75 aircraft were shot down.
A whole formation of nine Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 from RFC 40 Squadron were destroyed in one scrap on 9 March 1917 with Jasta 11 led by Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Four F.E.8 was shot down, four others badly damaged, and the survivor caught fire when landing.
The only ace who flew a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 was Captain Edwin Louis Benbow MC (10 December 1895 – 30 May 1918). Benbow for his eight victory was credited with shooting down a German fighter on 6 March 1917. The pilot was Baron Manfred von Richthofen, who force landed near Hénin-Beaumont (village renamed after a merger of the communes of Hénin-Liétard and Beaumont). Richthofen had a damaged engine, with fuel spraying from holed tanks, and seemingly on fire, but Richthofen survived.
The Jasta 11 Squadron under command of Baron Manfred von Richthofen claimed 89 of the April 1917 victories. The British had a casualty rate nearly four times as great as their German opponents. Only the Sopwith Triplane, with its better climb and tighter turn, could match the German fighters. The Sopwith Triplane’s were sometimes nicknamed Tripes or Tripehounds. The RFC losses were so disastrous during this time at the Battle of Arras, it was deemed the nadir point; it greatly undermined the morale in the squadrons. The RFC had to learn from their mistakes, so they instituted new policies, improved training doctrines, tactical organisation and technology.
They started introducing in July better aircraft such as the Sopwith Camel to redress the balance. They also looked at the tactical use of aircraft, the artillery-aircraft combination. Improving the coordination of Allied artillery and aircraft in which aircraft would play a much larger role in supporting ground troops. This time is often described as the birth of modern air power.
Dominance in the skies depended on the skill of the pilots and technical efficiency of Allied and German aircraft. As the introduction of newer higher performance machines increased on both sides, air superiority would pass every few months from one side to the other, and back again, the mastery of the skies alternating above the battlefield.
“Outnumbered, lacking even basic flying skills, outgunned and flying totally obsolescent aircraft, the young boys of the RFC went to their deaths due to the blind intransigence of their commanders.
They died, like the men on the ground, as sacrifices to the doctrine of the offensive at any cost.”
British Journal for Military History, Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2018
In April 1917, the biggest issue for the British was that quite a few of the best and most experienced RFC pilots were lost at this time, and they needed to be replaced. Better aircraft were on the way, but new trainee pilots were urgently needed. The heavy losses continued into May 1917. The pool of reserves of qualified pilots were rushed out from England, without adequate combat training. These novices could be granted no time to learn, they were sent straight into action flying technically inferior aircraft, against experienced German pilots flying much superior planes. With tragic frequency they were shot down on their first patrols.
It was thought that those with at least some technical understanding, experience and knowledge of how engines worked would be best suited for new recruits. Hence the call went out in April 1917 for those such as John Watson McCash, a former railwayman, to transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and become one of the ‘replacement’ pilots.
By mid-1917 the better aircraft designs were reaching the front, notably the Sopwith Camel and the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5. By late summer of 1917 the RFC started to regain air superiority. The British casualties in the air campaigns through the remainder of the war were never so one-sided again. In fact, Bloody April was essentially the last time that the Germans possessed real air superiority for the rest of the war.
Sopwith Camel
The much more powerful Sopwith Camel aircraft flown by Lieutenant John Watson McCash was held in the same high regard by those who fought in World War One, as the Supermarine Spitfire was for those involved in World War Two. With a superb fighting record, it was nicknamed “The King of the Air Fighters”.
According to aviation author Robert Jackson, the Royal Aircraft factory S.E.5 (Scout Experimental 5) was: “the nimble fighter that has since been described as the Spitfire of World War One” The Sopwith Camel designed by Sopwith’s chief designer; Herbert Smith was the highest scoring fighter of World War One.
The raison d’être of the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 was primarily to support the P.B.I. (Poor Bloody Infantry). The Sopwith Camels were particularly suited to a new tactical role, that of harassing by ground strafing, enemy troops and gun emplacements from very low levels. This highly dangerous duty however resulted in a still high pilot casualty rate averaged 30% in a single day during the Battle of Cambrai. It was a rate at which whole squadrons would need replacing every four days. Anti-aircraft fire, shrapnel, infantry rifle and machine gun fire made these missions extremely hazardous for the Camel pilots.
High-angle guns firing shrapnel were commonly known as ‘Archibald’s’. Early British archie produced a white smoke and German produced black. These anti-aircraft guns it is said got their popular name of ‘Archies’ from a light-hearted British pilot, who when he was fired at in the air quoted a popular George Robey music-hall refrain – ‘Archibald, certainly not!’ Attributions of this kind were part of common parlance at the Front.
“Our machines whilst working over the line were frequently shelled by anti-aircraft guns, and it was just about this time that they were nicknamed “Archibalds, probably because they always missed our machines, and the pilots used to sing the refrain of ‘Archibald! Certainly not!!’ James McCudden, V.C., 1987 [1918]. Flying Fury. Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps.
Another song by George Robey, “Another little drink wouldn’t do us any harm” was parodied by aviators in the RFC:
“When the Archibalds are busy and the Fokkers are about,
You’re ninety miles from home and your engine peters out,
Then you’ve really got some cause for worry and alarm:
And another thousand revs wouldn’t do you any harm.”
A direct hit by Archie was rare, perhaps one in 80,000 from the shells that were fired, although fragments pierced the fabric of the aircraft making Archie be regarded with much respect.
The low flying Sopwith Camels in November 1917 were supported by (first introduced March 1917) Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a. And the two-seater Bristol F2b fighter aircraft (first introduced May 1917), who both flew protective air cover above the Sopwith Camels. The Bristol F2b fighter aircraft was known as the “Brisfit” or “Biff” and was designed by Frank Barnwell who along with his brother first built their own aircraft at Causeway Head, Stirling, just under the Wallace Monument. Frank made the first powered flight in Scotland, in July 1909 and the first flight of over a mile in Scotland on 30 January 1911 at Causeway Head.
Almost as many Sopwith Camel pilots were killed in accidents as those who died in combat. The chances of survival of the new Sopwith Camel pilots on the Western Front was calculated to be only days, perhaps a week or two. The groundbreaking Sopwith Camel was notoriously difficult to control, 90% of the weight, the pilot, engine, armament and controls were all crammed into a seven-foot space at the front of the airplane. There was also a strong gyroscopic effect of the rotating mass of the cylinders which was common to rotary engines. The Camel turned more slowly to the left which also resulted in a nose-up attitude, but the rotating force also resulted in the Camel being able to turn to the right quicker than other fighters.
The engine gave the plane an exceptional performance for the time, but the tricky handling characteristics was often the contributing factor of fatal accidents. For the new inexperienced pilots, it was crashing on take-off when the full fuel load pushed the aircraft’s centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limit. The pilot also had to apply constant forward pressure on the control stick to maintain a level attitude at low altitude. The aircraft could be rigged so that at higher altitudes it could be flown ‘hands off’, but a stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin.
The Camel was by reputation one of the most dangerous aircraft to fly in World War I, despite its impressive combat record against enemy aircraft. Camel pilots joked that their fates would involve “a Wooden Cross, the Red Cross, or a Victoria Cross”. The Sopwith Camel shot down 1,294 enemy aircraft during World War I, more than any other Allied fighter. For a young 24-year-old from Perth to have mastered this most demanding of aircraft is notable, a most impressive accomplishment by him.
It was in October of 1917, that Lieutenant John Watson McCash’s RFC 3 Squadron was re-equipped with Sopwith Camel aircraft. In my view, the two very best aircraft at this time were the German Albatross D. Va, and on the British side the Sopwith Camel. You had to be outstanding to fly either, of these aircraft, and they were extremely deadly in the right hands.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash’s Sopwith Camel B2369 was built at one of the seven other manufacturers assisting production on behalf of Sopwith Aviation Co. Ltd, Kingston on Thames, that of Ruston, Proctor & Co. Ltd. Lincoln.
A total of 5,695 Sopwith Camel serial numbers are known, but 100 of these were cancelled. Sopwith Camel B2369 was likely fitted with a nine-cylinder 130 hp Clerget 9b rotary engine. The top speed at 6,500 ft, 108 mph, at 10,000 ft, 104.5 mph and at 15,000 ft, 97.5 mph. It is reported elsewhere that a Camel’s speed could be over 120 mph. The service ceiling was 18,500 ft, it took 6 minutes 40 seconds to reach 6,500 ft, 11 minutes 45 seconds to reach 10,000 ft and 23 minutes 15 seconds to reach 15,000 ft. Endurance was probably around 2½ hours.
Armament was two fixed 0.303 in Vickers machine guns mounted side by side (latest innovation) with Kauper No. 3 mechanical synchronizing gear allowing firing through the propeller. Under the fuselage, Sopwith Camels could carry four Cooper or Hales, Amatol high explosive 25 lb bombs in racks under the wings. The name “Camel” was derived from the hump-shaped cover over the machine guns, it was never an official designation.
“I’ve done five flights today, including two short ones on the Camel. First impressions – more room in the cockpit, so you can take a deep breath without feeling you’re going to burst the fuselage at the seams . . . Second, the exciting pull of the 130 hp Clerget, and the surge of power at full throttle. Third, her amazing lightness on the controls, lighter even than a Pup, which is gentle-sensitive, while the Camel is fierce, razor-sharp. She turns with lightning quickness to the right. You have to be careful taking off, as the engine torque veers her to the left, and you have to apply full right rudder, but it’s easy enough once you get the knack. I’ve not fired the guns yet; that’s a pleasure to come. Our one Camel has been taking off and landing all day as a succession of pilots tried their hand. Marvellously, nobody has broken it.” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
The overall average life expectancy during the Great War of a pilot was 92 flying hours, or a matter of weeks and especially for new pilots. There was nonetheless no shortage of volunteers for aircrew training. The Sopwith Camel with its outstanding manoeuvrability made it deadly in the hands of a good pilot. It dominated the skies over the trenches and became the RFC/RAF’s main fighter until the Armistice, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918.
Royal Flying Corps 3 Squadron
Most new pilots arriving in France had on average 15 to 20 hours’ flying time. Of that maybe only 10 to 12 hours solo. Perhaps as well only five hours on the type they were expected to fight with.
RFC 3 Squadron with their new Sopwith Camels did not appear in any reports or RFC Communiqués (known irreverently by RFC crews as the ‘Comic Cuts’ after a popular children’s magazine) until 6 November 1917, when they assisted the infantry as best they could due to the bad weather. They undertook the ground strafing of enemy infantry.
The ‘Comic’ was also the nickname for the Sopwith Camel night fighter variant, where the seat was moved further to the rear, and there were two overwing Lewis guns instead of the twin Vickers. Comic was also a popular nickname given to Richthofen’s Flying Circus, a song by RFC 22 Squadron refers to them as ‘The Comic Baron’s Mob’.
In October 1917, the Sopwith Camel squadrons who were to be assigned to ground attack at the Battle of Cambrai, were ordered to practise low-level bombing and low-level cross-country flying. Every village in the back area of Cambrai, was now teeming with infantry, cavalry and there were hundreds of tanks assembling for the battle. It was clear that a big push was imminent.
“Imagine after waiting all those months for Camels, striving not to be shot down on Pups, and looking forward to toppling Huns two at a time with my two Vickers, to find myself switched to ground strafing!” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
RFC 3 Squadron spent at least 203 hours on ground attack between 21 and 30 August 1917, despite two days completely lost to poor weather. As the autumn closed in, this problem inevitably grew. Although only two days in September were complete washouts, flying was impossible on ten days in October and every day in November except the first and fourth of the month.
“[We were] kept very fully occupied in between the usual patrols in getting used to the new form of armament which was to be tried out when the proper time came. This, in brief, amounted to the Sopwith Camel Scouts being adapted to carry light bombs by means of a rack attached to the underside of the fuselage, carrying four 20lb Hales bombs, the releases being controlled by a Bowden cable arrangement in the pilot’s cockpit. The pilots practised a great deal and with dummies aimed into a nearby shell crater and found accuracy more difficult to attain than had been anticipated, as allowance had to be made for speed and height while using their machines as launching platforms. It was found that about 500 feet was the lowest they could safely fly when diving to launch a bomb as they would be following the bomb down and would have to allow themselves time to pull up and away from the violent explosion directly underneath.” Captain Howard Brokensha, 3 Squadron, RFC
There is no mention in the RFC Communiqués of John McCash until 20 November 1917.
On the ground the Canadian infantry was on its final push into Passchendaele (31 July – 10 November 1917), which they took after bitter fighting. The Sopwith Camel’s first combat actions were when it appeared over the third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele). That lasted over 100 days, and, in that time, the Allies advanced about 5 miles for the loss of over 250,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing.
Rain, mist, wind and the cold made the airman’s efforts extremely challenging throughout November 1917. RFC 3 Squadron lost three aircraft on 6 November 1917, two pilots becoming POW’s and one, Lieutenant Talbot Baines Bruce, was forced to land behind the lines. Bruce burned his aircraft, mingled with the crowd that had gathered, and eventually escaped to the Netherlands. Allied aircraft fired 11,000 rounds on 6 November 1917 at German troops and guns.
The First Mission 20 November 1917
Towards the end of the year 1917 in France, during the First World War, the war to end all wars, was to see the first large-scale effective use of large numbers of Mark IV tanks at the Battle of Cambrai (20 November 1917 – 7 December 1917). In Germany, Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, the Red Baron, was just returning to command his flying circus after convalescent leave following a serious head wound that he received on 6 July 1917. Cambrai is the capital of the Nord region, bordering the Pas de Calais region to the northwest. The battle grounds of the Somme are to the southeast, (River Somme 35+ kms) and Passchendaele (95 kms) is to the north in Belgium.
“At length the squadron was briefed on the coming attack on Cambrai and the three flights assigned their various objectives and told the date and time when this was to take place, each of the flights being given different targets . . . The objective of ‘B’ Flight was an enemy aerodrome about twelve miles behind the lines which they were to try and put out of action and, at the same time, destroy as many aircraft as possible.” Captain Howard Brokensha, 3 Squadron, RFC
On 20 November 1917, at dawn, at approximately 6.20 am, the British ground forces launched an attack at Cambrai (Schlacht von Cambrai) in the département of the Nord, Hauts-de-France region. In the absence of any advance warning, the German forces were caught unaware. Aerial support comprised a total of 289 aircraft. The Sopwith Camels were to provide primarily, low-level attacks on enemy troops, transport, communications and airfields. This was undertaken despite the once again very bad flying weather conditions.
For the RFC squadrons intended for the attack on the German aerodromes, the start time on 20 November 1917 was considerably earlier, at 5.00am. They were awoken at about 4.30am with hot tea and biscuits. It was still dark with a good deal of mist and low cloud about. Whilst these conditions persisted it was impossible to take off.
Captain Howard Brokensha, commanding a flight from RFC 3 Squadron, described the wait: “There was no wind to speak of, only the mist slowly lifting and the dawn breaking through. Five o’clock came and still they waited tensely, chafing at being late as they listened to the terrific roar of the barrage which had started only a few miles away . . . They waited with something more than the usual quaking feeling in their stomachs that was always felt by pilots just before taking off on a mission or patrol, not knowing what would happen or which of them would be posted as missing at the end of the day, and this, too, in spite of their having had a tot of spirits to warm them up while waiting.” Captain Howard Brokensha, 3 Squadron, RFC
The Germans could count on to defend their air space, no more than 78 aircraft near the front line, of which only 12 were fighters (Jasta 5 at Estourmal).
Despite the atrocious flying weather, between 20 and 26 November 1917, 52,673 rounds of ammunition were fired by Allied aircraft at ground targets. Six British infantry divisions led by 320 tanks managed to create on the first day a hole in the German defences ten kilometres wide and six kilometres deep.
“Something unpleasant is certainly brewing. We all feel it. First 3 and 46 both getting Camels in such a hurry. Then this intensive practice in low level bombing, and low cross-country flying, which our neighbours 64 were doing even in England. Another squadron, 84, with SE5a’s under Major Douglas, has arrived at the other end of the aerodrome, and other squadrons have come to this area. Every village in the forward zone is crowded with troops . . . including artillery, and masses of cavalry with horse-lines everywhere. And there are hundreds of tanks around, too, from the air you see their tracks sprawling across the countryside. They move at night, but you can see them in daytime, hiding under camouflage in the woods beyond Bapaume. Obviously, a big push is coming any time now.” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
The Major Douglas mentioned is Air Chief Marshall William Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside, GCB, MC, DFC (23 December 1893 – 29 October 1969). Sholto Douglas went on to be Marshal of the Royal Air Force on 1 January 1946. A lad from Perth, born in Pitcullen Terrace, Perth Academy and the Northern District schools, also rose through the ranks become Marshal of the Royal Air Force on 31 July 1977, Neil Cameron, (Sir Neil Cameron, later The Lord Cameron of Balhousie).
Pilots going into action for the first time faced an intense baptism, “Many casualties occurred through pilots flying into the ground, but the majority were from ground fire.’ Returning to the advanced landing ground several times to reload, Lee flew so low that he had to leap over tanks when he glimpsed them labouring through the haze, drawing little groups of infantry in their wake, ‘trudging forward’, as he noted, ‘with cigarettes alight’. He was dismayed to see flames belching from some of the tanks, not so much disabled as destroyed.” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
The success of the first day at Cambrai was greeted in Britain by the ringing of church bells.
Notes
In 1917, the third year of war, the battle line still stretched unbroken for 350 miles across Belgium and France, from the Channel to Switzerland. The broad, shell-pitted belt of trenches and dugouts, protected by myriads of machine-guns trained on dense entanglements of barbed wire, had proved a barrier too difficult to pass by either contestant. Despite the years of ruthless fighting, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the battle line had not moved more than a few miles east or west.
Elsewhere, the Russian Revolution had started back in February 1917 and the October Revolution, was to happen on Wednesday 7 November 1917 (according to the Gregorian calendar and on Wednesday 25 October according to the Julian calendar in use under tsarist Russia). This led to the Russians pulling out of the war which freed up German troops to fight on the western front.
The USA officially established the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on 5 July 1917 at Chaumont, France, under the command of then Major General John J. Pershing. By June 1917, only 14,000 American soldiers had arrived in France, and the AEF had only a minor participation at the front up to late October 1917. But by May 1918 over one million American troops were stationed in France. US troops were often referred to as “Doughboys,” In Italy, the Italians were in retreat after the Battle of Caporetto (24 October to 19 November 1917). In the wake of the battle, more than 600,000 war-weary Italian soldiers either deserted or surrendered.
“There is evidence that German divisions intended for the Italian theatre were diverted to the Cambrai front, and it is probable that the further concentration of German forces against Italy was suspended for at least two weeks at a most critical period, when our Allies were making their first stand on the Piave Line.” Sir Douglas Haig’s Fifth Despatch, after the Battle of Cambrai
Erwin Rommel as a German junior officer won the Pour le Mérite in 1917 for his accomplishments in the Battle of Caporetto. Rommel was later to command the 7th Panzer Division during the 1940 German invasion of France through the through the Ardennes Forest in southeastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. His initial objective was Avesnes-sur-Helpe which was met on 16 May 1940. The original plan called for him to stop and await further orders, but Rommel pressed on taking the road to Arras, passing Caudry, Estourmal and Cambrai on the way. Avesnes-sur-Helpe to Cambrai is 55 km and Cambrai to Arras 50 km
Rommel arrived in Arras on 20 May 1940, the next day he was startled when two British infantry divisions and the 1st Army Tank Brigade counterattacked his 7th Panzer Division and the Totenkopf (Death’s Head) SS Motorized Division (SS-TK). The British strike force had 58 Matilda I tanks, armed only with machine guns, and 16 heavy Matilda II infantry tanks. The 30-ton Matilda’s were superior to any German tank in armoured protection and firepower. They halted the German Panzers Blitzgreig for long enough, allowing vital time for the Miracle of Dunkirk to happen. The evacuation of 338,000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force and its allies from the beaches at Dunkirk, it concluded on 4 June 1940.
The British counterattack at Arras in 1940 represented a significant victory, even though it was undoubtedly a tactical defeat. The XIX Panzer Corps War Diary records that the British counterattack “apparently created nervousness throughout the entire [Kleist] group area.” (Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. On 13 November 1954, Kleist died of heart failure in Vladimir Central Prison, Soviet Union.
The Matilda tank was the only tank to see service throughout the entire six years of WW2, France, North Africa, Soviet Union (918 were received by the Red Army) and the Far East.
In 1917, the town of Cambrai was an important supply point for the German Hindenburg Line (Siegfriedstellung), and it’s capture along with the nearby high ground of Bourlon Ridge, would threaten the rear of the German line to the north. The British infantry and tanks were to carry forward the momentum of the attack over the coming days until they reached a point five kilometres from the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) Jasta 5 base at Boistrancourt (Estourmal), where they began shelling the airfield. The Germans counter attacked in the south was launched at 6am on 30 November 1917.
Up and down this section of the line German artillery pounded British defences. German Stoßtruppen, (Stormtroopers, elite shock troops) used the mist to cloak their advance, and deployed infiltration tactics that, rather than attacking strong pockets of resistance, bypassed them in favour of moving forwards and isolating them from supporting units. The creation of these units was the first, and perhaps most innovative, attempt by the German army to break out of the impasse of trench warfare.
The British were forced to retreat and by 10am the Germans had reached Gouzeaucourt, an advance of 3 miles. British reinforcements were rushed to the area, and some occupied the same fortifications that the Germans had used on the 20th. The front was stabilised to the east of Gouzeaucourt.
The northern German attack was less successful. Massed British artillery and stubborn resistance slowed the drive around Bourlon, but German determination and weight of numbers carried them forward. Fighting continued, but by 7 December 1917, the front lines were largely set, and the Battle of Cambrai was over.
The British lost around 45,000 killed, wounded or missing at Cambrai, the Germans over 41,000. Although the British had held onto some territory in the north, they had been forced to retreat further south. A battle that had begun with such promise had ended in what was effectively a draw.
The Royal Flying Corps was established in 1912, just three years after Louis Blériot had flown across the English Channel. Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was born on 1 July 1872 at No.17h rue de l’Arbre à Poires (now rue Sadi-Carnot) in Cambrai. Louis Blériot died 1 August 1936 (aged 64) in Paris.
Cambrai was also the Duke of Wellington’s headquarters, for the British Army of Occupation, from 1815 to 1818, the Battle of Waterloo was 18 June 1815.
A second Battle of Cambrai took place in WW1 between 8 and 10 October 1918 as part of the Hundred Days Offensive.
1917 saw the German Luftstreitkräfte use of advanced high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft with oxygen and heated suits. The Rumpler C.VII was optimised for high-altitude missions that would allow it to operate at heights that would render it immune to interception by enemy fighters. Rumpler produced the C.VII in two versions: a standard radio-equipped reconnaissance machine, and a photographic version named the Rubild (or Rubilt) (a contraction of Rumpler Bildaufklärer). The Rubild could operate as high as 7,300 m (24,000 ft) and could maintain 160 km/h (100 mph) at 6,100 m (20,000 ft). It proved to be practically invulnerable to Allied interception above 5,500 m (18,000 ft). One of the few Allied fighters able to reach such altitudes, and hence capable of intercepting the Rubild, was the Sopwith Dolphin, introduced in February 1918.
In his memoir book, Sagittarius Rising, Cecil Lewis MC (RFC 3, 9, 23, 44, 56, 61, and 152 Squadrons and Squadron Leader in WW2) described a friendly mock dogfight between his S.E.5 and a Dolphin:
“The Dolphin had a better performance than I realised. He was up in a climbing turn and on my tail in a flash. I half rolled out of the way, he was still there. I sat in a tight climbing spiral, he sat in a tighter one. I tried to climb above him, he climbed faster. Every dodge I have ever learned I tried on him; but he just sat there on my tail, for all the world as if I had just been towing him behind me.”
In 1922 Cecil Lewis was one of the five young founding executives of the British Broadcasting Company, precursor of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), where he was a writer, producer and director.
Jagdgeschwader 1 at a Funeral
The ground fog that morning of 20 November 1917 had freed Manfred von Richthofen and Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1) members to attend the funeral services for the Staffelführer (Commander) of Jasta 6, Leutnant Hans Ritter von Adam at the Carmelite Chapel in Kortrijk, Belgium known in English as Courtrai, about 85 kms north of Cambrai. Leutnant Hans Ritter von Adam was shot down on 15 November 1917.
After the cortège had departed and as the train carrying his coffin was on route to his home in Bayerisch Eisenstein in Bavaria, a lone two-seat Avro D.H.4 from RFC 57 Squadron over the train station and dropped two 112lb bombs. RFC 57 Squadron’s Captain Laurence Minôt MC and Second Lieutenant Sidney John Leete on 28 July 1917, probably fell victim to Leutnant Hans Ritter von Adam. This was possibly RFC 57 Squadron avenging them and their recent losses at the hands of Jasta6.
During the next two more days of bad weather, Jagdgeschwader 1 moved to airfields in the Cambrai sector, at Avesnes le Sec, Lieu-Saint-Amand and Iwuy, all within 10 to 15 kms to the northwest. Support equipment was delayed owning to the scarcity of trains, due to recent allied attacks on railway stations.
Despite the weather and lack of equipment, Richthofen was to lead most of his squadrons into the battle on 23 November 1917.
The 20th attacks commence
In support of the Cambrai attack on 20 November 1917 were dawn attacks on the German aerodromes east of Cambrai by Royal Flying Corps Sopwith Camels from 3 Squadron and 46 Squadron based at Warloy-Baillon, 9 km northwest near the village of Harponville.
Nine Sopwith Camels, from RFC 3 Squadron including that piloted by Lieutenant John Watson McCash were tasked to attack at dawn the German airfields at Caudry (15 kms south of Cambrai), Carnières (8 kms east of Cambrai,) and Estourmal (7 kms southeast of Cambrai) aerodromes. This was despite many appeals to cancel the airfield attacks due to the extremely bad flying weather, a blanket of fog and mist covering the targets.
I know that at least another two of RFC 3 Squadrons Camels assisted RFC 46 squadrons to attack batteries (150 mm (5.9-inch) guns) around Lateau and Vauchelles Wood, 11 kms southeast of Cambrai.
Boistrancourt Aerodrome was incorrectly called by the British, Estourmal after the nearby village. Also, Bouzincourt is a village near the squadron base at Warloy-Baillon, perhaps the miscalling was to avoid confusion.
A chaotic confused melee was what appears to have happened on 20th November 1917, only some of RFC 3 Squadrons Camel’s on 20 November 1917, including John Watson McCash, managed to find their correct target at Estourmal. They arrived just after dawn over Estourmal Aerodrome where they saw through the mist, the twelve German fighters of Jasta 5 on the ground, with pilots already to take-off in their cockpits.
Due to the poor weather, the Staffelführer of Jasta 5, Oberleutnant Richard Flaschar had to be threatened with a court martial before he would order his men to climb into their cockpits. Oberleutnant Richard Flaschar, the commander of Jasta 5, wrote this of the day’s events. “The heavy fog, mist, and rain had discouraged him from ordering his pilots aloft.”
Yielding to the orders from his superiors and having just sighted some dark shapes of RFC planes overhead in the mist, he ordered four pilots (including himself) into the air. Vizefeldwebel (Senior non-commissioned Officer) Josef Mai got lucky and blundered through the fog and mist on to Camel B5159 and shot it down, killing 2nd Lieutenant G W Hall.
Offz Stv (Offizier Stellvertretender) Josef Mai was one of only two, perhaps three Jasta 5 Staffel pilots who managed to get airborne that morning. According to Offz Stv Josef Mai, he ‘fired at one dark shadow which turned over and crashed west of the Chateau’ (Château de Boistrancourt). Offz Stv Josef Mai was later officially credited with a Sopwith Camel at 08:40, destroyed and burnt, east of Estourmal.
The Canadian, 2nd Lieutenant G W Hall (KIA), was detailed to attack Carnières aerodrome (3 kms north). In a later interview, Mai conceded that he saw another one hit a tree and crash, and two others (2nd Lieutenant M W B Stead (KIA) and/or 2nd Lieutenant H P Ledger (POW) were forced to land. It is possible that Offz Stv Josef Mai attacked up to four of RFC 3 Squadron Camels over the Estourmal area.
Offizier Stellvertretender (Offz Stv) Josef Mai of Jagdstaffel 5, as a Vizefeldwebel (a senior non-commissioned officer rank), was one of three non-commissioned pilots (along with Fritz Rumey and Otto Könnecke) who flew together so successfully they ended up claiming 40% of Jagdstaffel 5’s victories between them and made Jasta 5 the third highest scoring unit of the war. This trio was nicknamed “The Golden Triumvirate”. These three friends who flew together scored many of the squadron’s 250 successes. In addition to Rumey’s 45 eventual confirmed victories, Mai was credited with 30 confirmed and 15 unconfirmed, and Könnecke with 35 more.
Lieutenant Howard Brokensha later recalled
“During the Cambrai show, when we lost so many pilots, I came back from one patrol, and they put us on bombing. There were four bombs under the wings of the scouts, and we had to go and bomb over the trenches. I came back once, and a bomb had blown an enormous hole in one of my wings. I was just on top of the trenches, and the engine cut out for a few moments. I thought “This is it!” and looked around for a shell-hole to land in, but the engine picked up again and I got back to the aerodrome. We had a group of German prisoners working there in the field, filling in the holes. They were all grinning, as my machine was practically a wreck.
When I went over to the Cambrai show, we were supposed to leave at five o’clock in the morning, but the morning of the attack was so dull and misty that we couldn’t leave until about half an hour later. The tanks were still going towards the Cambrai canal, and we were flying on top of them. I could see many of them tipped over onto their sides. Then we flew over the barrage. The guns were going hell for leather. We were unable to get up above 150 feet because of the mist.
We were going in to attack a German aerodrome about twelve miles over the other side. When we got there, there were several machines on the tarmac, and we hosed them with bullets. Then we started to attack the mess huts and the hangars, too. We did this for about twenty minutes, before they were able to get any of their machines off the ground. There was a group of German officers there with a machine gun mounted on a pedestal, and as I went by, they were blazing off at me. There were tracer rounds all over the place.
I looked round and saw three Huns on my tail. They had managed to get off the ground. It was so foggy and misty, and I was nearly out of petrol (having been out for an hour and a half) and I thought “I can’t possibly tangle it with you fellows; I’ve got to get home.” So, I lost them. On my way back, I was flying very low over the treetops, and I came to a field where there was a body of about fifty Uhlans on horseback with their Pickelhaube helmets. They jumped off their horses and lay flat on the ground. I was doing about 100 mph and was on top of them before I was able to do anything. I didn’t have much ammunition left anyway, and as I passed them, I just burst out laughing!”
Extract from an Audiotape recording made on the 27 March 1977 by Anna Malinovska at Captain Brokensha’s garage in Sheen, south-west London.
Outcome
Lieutenant John Watson McCash successfully dropped his four 25lb bombs on Estourmal Aerodrome hitting, three sheds and an Albatross 2-seater on the ground.
Of some of the others, to the southeast:
Lieutenant R S S Brown dropped four 25lb bombs from about 150ft on Caudry aerodrome, wrecking a hangar. He then fired 200 rounds at five machines and several mechanics on the ground. He then attacked three wagons carrying road material.
2nd Lieutenant Douglas Henry Chamberlain also dropped four bombs on Caudry aerodrome destroying a small hut with one landing and damaging an enemy aircraft on the ground. To the north,
Lieutenant Howard Brokensha dropped four 25lb bombs on Carnières aerodrome destroying a hangar.
Of the three Camel’s from RFC 3 Squadron who rocketed out of the murk to attack Estourmal Aerodrome, an allied report stated that two promptly crashed and a third was shot down, but Lieutenant John Watson McCash did survive and managed to somehow return. This was either without his aircraft or it was damaged beyond repair. Another report stated that two more Camel’s apparently hit trees on their return, and a fourth (2nd Lieutenant Tom Kent) attacking the other nearby aerodromes was also lost.
Of the fate of more of the others from RFC 3 Squadron:
2nd Lieutenant R Coop, Camel B5207 managed to return to the squadron aerodrome at 08.15.
2nd Lieutenant Tom Kent (POW) became separated and lost and was forced down at Vallencennes (35 kms north of Estourmal), when his fuel tank was hit by ground fire. German troops captured him and his Sopwith Camel before he could destroy it (and later reused it).
2nd Lieutenant Stead (POW) became lost and strayed well to the southeast landing out of fuel at Faucouzy, about 60 kms south of Cambrai.
Captain D B King had his aircraft shot through whilst bombing but managed to land at ALG Bapaume (Advanced Landing Ground about 30 kms west of Cambrai).
2nd Lieutenant William Clifton Vernon Higginson was killed in action in other duties whilst attacking along with RFC 46 Squadron, batteries around Lateau and Vauchelles Wood, 11 kms southeast of Cambrai.
2nd Lieutenant F H Stephens was shot up over Aizecourt and killed in action, detailed on other duties with 46 Squadron.
“It was a ghastly morning – low cloud, mist, occasional rain. It was 6.30 before we could see to take off in formation, when we were immediately in the clouds. How [our CO] found the way, I don’t know. Nearly forty miles across country in mist and rain, and never more than 100 feet from the ground. We followed blindly; our attention fully taken in keeping formation.” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
On the first day of the Battle of Cambrai, 20 November 1917, Jasta 5 hunting squadron was the only German fighter Squadron in the Cambrai sector, they were soon joined by Jasta 15, but on 23 November 1917 Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen with all his other Jasta’s joined the battle.
Confused reporting
The report for all the allied attacker squadrons said that only four of the six targeted airfields were struck with a 20% loss rate on 20 November 1917. It also stated RFC 3 Squadron’s loss rate was, of the Sopwith Camels, attacking Estourmal, Caudry, and Carnières, eight aircraft were reported as lost out of nine. One in air combat, some were to anti-aircraft fire, and one was badly damaged but returned. From this report of eight lost Camel’s, three of the pilots were killed, two became POW’s and only three survived and returned to their squadron.
From my appraisal of the records that are available, I know that twelve RFC 3 Squadron pilots took part in the days action, six pilots, McCash, Brown, Chamberlain, Coop, King, and Stephens made it back, that includes the other three pilots supporting RFC 46 squadron who attacked the batteries around Lateau and Vauchelles. Five aircraft I know were lost at Estourmal, Caudry, and Carnières and one was lost at Vauchelles. How many of the others returned and were damaged beyond repair and were counted as lost is unknown.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash was very lucky surviving from the three who managed to attack the airfield at Estourmal. As he is not recorded as landing back at his squadron aerodrome airfield, my deductions are that he safely landed somewhere in friendly territory and was later reunited with his squadron or perhaps he crashed on landing and his aircraft was written off or his aircraft was so badly damaged it had to be scrapped.
This day’s action by RFC 3 Squadron was to say the least, intense, chaotic and extremely confused. This was mainly due to the fog and mist covering the battle ground.
The atrocious flying weather and anti-aircraft batteries contributed greatly to RFC 3 Squadron’s mauling on 20 November 1917. Some aircraft attacked the wrong target and some never even found their target. Of the twelve aircraft from RFC 3 Squadron in action, this is what I think happened to them (two lost aircraft with a question mark, this is my best guess only):
2nd Lieutenant W C V Higginson KIA Aircraft lost Vauchelles
Captain D B King OK Aircraft lost? Vauchelles?
2nd Lieutenant Stead POW Aircraft lost Estourmal
2nd Lieutenant Tom Kent POW Aircraft lost Estourmal
2nd Lieutenant R Coop OK Estourmal
2nd Lieutenant FH Stephens OK Aircraft lost Vauchelles
2nd Lieutenant GW Hall KIA Aircraft lost Carnières
2nd Lieutenant H P Ledger KIA Aircraft lost Estourmal
Lieutenant H Brokensha OK Carnières
2nd Lieutenant D Chamberlain OK Caudry
Lieutenant RSS Brown OK Caudry
Lieutenant John Watson McCash OK Aircraft lost? Estourmal
RFC 3 Squadron would have planned to fly perhaps four or five missions that day. Quickly landing and refuelling at the closer to the front ALG Bapaume emergency landing field. But given the losses on their first mission of the day, it looks like for obvious reasons, the damage to and loss of aircraft, that could not happen.
“This makes me go hot. I dive at another group of guns, giving them 100 rounds, see a machine-gun blazing at me, swing on to that, one short burst and he stops firing. As I climb up, a Camel whizzes past me out of the mist, missing me by a yard. It makes me sweat with fright. This is too dangerous, and I lift into the cloud to 300 feet, stay there half a minute, come down. Lateau Wood is behind me. There isn’t much room below, I nearly hit a high tree, swerve violently, skim through tree-tops with the mist clinging to the branches, then suddenly no trees, an open road. I fly along it, trying to get my breath. My heart is racing, and it isn’t through being at 20,000!” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
A communication issued by General Headquarters on 21 November 1917 states: “On the 20th inst. our aeroplanes attempted to work throughout the day in conjunction with our operations between St. Quentin and the River Scarpe. Low clouds and mist and a strong westerly wind, with drizzle and occasional rain throughout the day, made it necessary for our pilots to fly at 50 ft. from the ground. Even at that height they were at times quickly lost in the mist. Continual attempts were made to maintain contact with our advancing troops, but this was rendered almost impossible by the weather conditions. Many bombs were dropped on the enemy’s batteries, lorries, aerodromes, transport and railways. Batteries and small groups of infantry were attacked with machine-gun fire. Valuable information was gained, despite the very difficult conditions. Only five hostile machines were seen all day on the battle front. Eleven of our machines are missing, their loss being due to the mist and the exceptionally low height at which they were compelled to fly.”
Landing behind enemy lines.
Another account of RFC 3 Squadron’s 20 November 1917 action stated that a British pilot was also briefly forced to land behind enemy lines. I first suspected that this was possibly an aircraft from another squadron, possibly B312, Armstrong Whitworth FK8 (two-seat general-purpose biplane) from RFC 8 Squadron. Another report also stated that it crashed on re-take-off at Aubigny-au-Bac, 13 kms north of Cambrai.
The F.K.8 (nicknamed the “Big Ack”) proved to be effective and dependable, being used for reconnaissance, artillery spotting, ground-attack, contact-patrol and day and night bombing.
A British pilot who experienced landing in No Mans land, Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, later recounted his event: “Chunks of shrapnel tore through the fabric of the plane, one piece going clang! somewhere in the engine, which didn’t stop but vibrated horribly. I expected the machine to fall to bits, as it began to wobble violently. The joystick felt loose, with no lateral control and fore-and-aft like lead. I closed the throttle, switched off, held her off the ground as long as I could, and flopped – I couldn’t call it a landing but at least I didn’t turn over – on the large grassy field that was fortunately still beneath me. Fortunately, also there was next to no wind. She trundled along for fifty yards, while I unbuckled my belt, just in case, then she stopped halfway between the wood I’d just circled and a sunken road.
Otherwise, all seemed peaceful enough . . . when – Crak! Crak! Crak! Crak! – and a sharp rattle of gunfire from my right. Startled, I turned, saw a machine-gun flashing in the trees. I was out of the cockpit like a jack-in-the-box. I ran as hard as my full flying kit would allow towards the sunken road, keeping the machine between me and the guns, though I could still hear the vicious crak-ak-ak-ak! as bullets passed fairly close to me. They were after me because they were the bunch I’d just been shooting up and they were only 200 yards away. I had nearly 100 yards to run and with every step was astonished they didn’t hit me. Then the ground dropped away, and I slithered down the bank into the road. I was safe – for the moment. I was gasping for breath – sprinting and flying kit don’t go together.
Suddenly I heard footsteps. I had no gun with me, and didn’t know what to expect, so I dropped into a funk-hole by the ditch . . . I kept low until they passed, then looked out – it was a wounded infantryman, arm in a sling. I caught him up and found he was a Seaforth Highlander. The bullet had gone through his shoulder. He said they were being pushed out of Fontaine, the Boche had brought up too many troops. I knew it already; I’d just been shooting some of them up.
I had a good view of my immense field, with the Camel perched there looking pathetically abandoned, and also of the wood facing us, some 300-400 yards distant, which I now learned was La Folie Wood. From here too I could see how the ridge on which Bourlon Wood lies dominates the whole area. On the crest of the slope, I saw the Seaforths from Fontaine taking up position along the sunken road, so placing my Camel in the centre of No Man’s Land.” Captain Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC
The Fontaine referred to by Captain Arthur Gould Lee is Fontaine-Notre-Dame, 6 kms west of Cambrai. La Foile Wood is just to the south, about 1 km. The Hindenburg Line on 20 November 1917 was 8 kms west of Cambrai.
Captain King who was shot up and damaged, and landed back ALG Bapaume, is not recorded as, was not one of the nine attacking Estourmal, Caudry, and Carnières, I have them accounted for, he must have also been supporting 46 Squadron at Lateau and Vauchelles.
Lieutenant Stephens (KIA) was shot up and came down at Aizecourt-le-Bas just north of the River Somme, 28 kms southeast of Cambrai and 40 kms west of the squadron airfield at Warloy-Baillon and about 15 kms away from the front line. Also, Lieutenant Stephens record is marked as ‘delivery’ which is strange. Lieutenant Stephens was one of the two RFC 3 Squadron pilots (along with John Watson McCash) who was killed three days later on 23 November 1917.
The Second Mission 23 November 1917
On the 21 November 1917 poor conditions restricted most of the allied aircraft flying. On 22 November 1917, the weather again prevented flying except at extremely low height, one RFC 3 Squadron Sopwith Camel was reported as having been shot up, Lieutenant RSS Brown received machine gun fire, was wounded and was back in the air the next day.
The reality for these incredibly brave aviators was an immense strain on their nerves. Arthur Gould Lee who would survive a brush with ground fire on 2 December 1917, hated the work of ground-strafing:
“To fly along a winding trench, bristling with successive nests of machine-guns and mortars, and rifles by the score, all blasting up at you every time you lift up to dive, and fired by people largely hidden and protected by traverses, really makes my hair stand on end. The strain of waiting for that one bullet with your name on it, knowing that you can’t dodge it like you can ‘archie’, is quite petrifying. Trench-strafing can be a suicidal job, especially if you’re rash, and the staff types who so casually order it can have no conception of what it demands from a pilot. They ought to try it occasionally.” Lieutenant Arthur Gould Lee, 46 Squadron, RFC.
The British infantry on the ground was attempting two new sizable attacks on Bourlon Wood and Fontaine-Notre-Dame, but both attacks were ultimately repulsed. Notable during this fighting was that the Germans started using against the tank’s, mobile anti-aircraft guns, they were mounted on lorries.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash along with Lieutenant Frederick Henry Stephens (known as Fred) were at 11.00 am, tasked with a combat patrol, or a line patrol over Bourlon Wood. The weather had improved and from dawn, relays of between four and fifteen aircraft kept a constant presence over troops and gun emplacements in Bourlon Wood. McCash was reported to have been forced to return, and both were marked at the time as missing in action.
A Line Offensive Patrol (L.O.P.) was to jump on any German scouts trying to attack our B.E.s and other two-seaters doing artillery observations below. The other main kind of patrol was the D.O.P. (Distant Offensive Patrol), with five or six machines or more, which went ten to fifteen miles into ‘Hunland’ looking for trouble.
On 23 November 1917, bitter air combat took place just after noon. Jasta 5 aircraft of Richthofen’s Flying Circus engaged Sopwith Camels over Bourlon Wood, just to the northeast of Cambrai. Three Camels managed to get on the tail of Jasta 5’s commander, Oberleutnant Richard Flasher, who was saved by the intervention of Vizefeldwebel, (Leutnant der Reserve) Fritz Rumey and Leutnant Otto Könnecke. Both pilots were reported to have shot down one Sopwith Camel each. In fact, only Fritz Rumey received credit for both. Jasta 15
Fritz Rumey was a German ‘Ace’, credited at the time of his death with 45 victories. He was a holder of the Pour le Mérite (Blue Max) and the Goldenes Militär-Verdienstkreuz (Golden Military Merit Cross). He was only one of five pilots to receive both these awards. Fritz Rumey was sent to France in early 1917, serving for a brief period with Jasta Boelcke, and then went to Jagdstaffel 5 on 10 June 1917. Rumey had been wounded on 25 August 1917, and again on 24 September 1917.
The Sopwith Camels, B5153 & B2369, shot down at 12.00 pm by Fritz Rumey on 23 November 1917 were piloted by:
Lieutenant Frederick Henry Stephens, 3rd Squadron RFC & Canadian Infantry, age 27.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash, 3rd Squadron RFC & 6th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), age 24.
The body of John Watson McCash was not found. It is known that he was shot down over He is commemorated at the Arras Flying Services Memorial (Commonwealth Graves Commission) which is in the Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France. John Watson McCash is also remembered on the War memorial in the parish church at Tibbermore, and the book of remembrance at St Andrew’s University. At the time of his death John Watson McCash was flying from an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at Bapaume, about 30 kms west of Cambrai.
A relative of John Watson McCash, Second Lieutenant W F McCash, a son of Mr and Mrs McCash of Queen Street, Craigie, Perth, educated at Perth Academy and a member of the firm of James McCash & Sons, Grain Merchants, was awarded in early 1917 the Military Cross. Lieutenant McCash was 29 years of age enlisted in the Black Watch at the start of the war. He had been at the front for eight months when he received his commission in The Gordon Highlanders. When he returned to the front he was severely wounded in November 1917. The Gordon Highlanders took part in the Battle of Cambrai.
During the Second World War another member of the McCash family, Pilot Officer James McCash, was killed ferrying a Bristol Blenheim (designed by Frank Barnwell) to Tunisia on 18 June 1940.
On 23 November 1917 the Royal Flying Corps losses were to be 14 aircraft, with 15 enemy aircraft claimed shot down. In the air that day over Cambrai, were several other notable ‘Aces’, Manfred von Richthofen’s brother, Lothar Richthofen, and Captain James T B McCudden, VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM (57 victories). McCudden first served with RFC 3 Squadron as a mechanic and then observer (June 1913 – January 1916) before becoming a pilot.
Additional Notes
Lieutenant Frederick Henry Stephens (Fred) was a Bell Telephone Inspector was a recent immigrant to Canada and was living in Uxbridge. This job was technical in nature but a management position. Fred spent time in England with the Canadian 116th and 2nd Reserves battalions, but in April 1917 was accepted to be trained as a Flying Officer. The company he worked for in Canada was the Bell Telephone Company of Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an Edinburgh born inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. The National Bell Telephone Company merged with American Speaking Telephone Company on March 20, 1880, to form the American Bell Telephone Company, also of Boston, Massachusetts. The American Bell Telephone Company then evolved into the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.
Lieutenant John Watson McCash and Lieutenant Frederick Henry Stephens were shot down by one of the very best German Aces, Vizefeldwebel, (Leutnant der Reserve), Fritz Rumey of the Flying Circus pilots of Jasta 5, which was one of the squadron wings (Jasta’s) in Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1). Jagdgeschwader 1 was under the overall command since 26 July 1917, of Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, known as the ‘Red Baron’, (German ‘Der Rote Kampfflieger’). Fritz Rumey was one of its very best aces, if you take away the number of reconnaissance aircraft shot down by Rumey and Richthofen and look just the number of combat fighter aircraft shot down, not reconnaissance aircraft, Rumey’s tally was 45, Richthofen’s was only 35.
On 23 November 1917, Fritz Rumey after shooting down McCash and Stephens, shot down just one hour later at 13.00 pm another British aircraft southwest of Marcoing, which is 8 kms southwest of Cambrai. Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8, B316, was on a bombing mission from Mons-en-Chausée aerodrome, 40 kms southwest of Cambrai. 2nd Lieutenant William Albert Booth (pilot), age 20 and 2nd Lieutenant George James Howells (observer), age 24 of RFC 8 Squadron were both killed.
Manfred von Richthofen was also flying in his red Albatross D.V. above Bourlon Wood about an hour after the time when McCash and Stephens were shot down. At around 1 pm, around fifteen allied aircraft were engaged in a dogfight by the Flying Circus, between Bourlon Wood and Fontaine-Notre-Dame. Ricthofen forced the pilot of an RFC 64 Squadron, Airco D. H. 5 aircraft to make an emergency landing. His next victim was Lieutenant James Alexander Vazeille Boddy flying Airco D. H. 5, A9299. Boddy’s gun had jammed, and he was trying to clear it when Richthofen’s red Albatross D.V. (4693/17) opened fire on him. A bullet fractured his skull but somehow, he managed to land his aircraft near the north-east corner of the wood, additionally breaking his thighs. Boddy formerly with the 18th Battalion Durham Light Infantry recovered from his injuries, but his flying days were over, he passed away in 1954. RFC 64 Squadron lost six D.H.5’s that day. None of the pilots were killed, but two were wounded. In this engagement, the 64 Squadron D.H.5’s were particularly targeted by Richthofen and his Flying Circus.
Rittmeister von Richthofen had himself been wounded and sustained a serious head wound on 6 July 1917, during combat near Wervik on the France Belgium border against a formation of Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2d two seat fighters of RFC 20 Squadron. Richthofen forced landed in a field in friendly territory. This ‘success’ was credited to Captain Donald Cunnell and Second Lieutenant Albert Woodbridge.
By 29 November 1917 the full group of Jagdgeschwader 1, Manfred von Richthofen’s Flying Circus was in the Cambrai sector. Ten more Jasta’s, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 15, 17, 29, 30 and 35b were sent to the area. During the war, Jagdgeschwader 1 had established itself as one of those most admired, and feared, by the men of the RFC with whom they duelled daily in the war-torn skies over the Western Front.
Two notable JG1 aces were shot down in September 1917:-
Kurt Wolff flying a Fokker triplane F.1. 102/17 was shot down on 15 September 1917 in an encounter with Sopwith Camels over Moorslede, Belgium. Wolff’s body was recovered, given a military funeral with full honours and his remains were sent to Klaipėda, a port city in Lithuania. Klaipėda was formerly the German Baltic territory of Memel. The Teutonic Knights built a castle in the Pilsāts Land of the Curonians, and named it Memelburg, which would later be shortened to Memel.
Werner Voss flying a Fokker D.R. 1 on 23 September 1917 at 18.05 singly fought a legendary battle with Sopwith Camels over Poelkapelle including no less than eight British aces. (James McCudden, Keith Muspratt, Harold A. Hamersley, Arthur Rhys-Davids, Robert L. Chidlaw-Roberts, Geoffrey Hilton Bowman, Reginald Hoidge, and Richard Maybery.)
After flying head on at Major James Thomas Byford McCudden, VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM, RFC 56 Squadron in a machine-gun firing attack, (by both pilots), Voss’ aircraft was suddenly struck by a starboard broadside burst of machine-gun fire from First Lieutenant Reginald Theodore Carlos Hoidge MC & Bar who was probably unsighted by Voss at that moment. After this, it was noticed that Voss had stopped manoeuvring and was flying level for the first time in the engagement
In a famous account, James McCudden wrote: “He was very low … still being engaged by an SE … the pilot being Rhys-Davids. I noticed the triplane’s movements were very erratic … I saw him go into a steep dive … and then saw the triplane hit the ground and disappear into a thousand fragments. As long as I live, I shall never forget my admiration for that German pilot, who single-handed fought seven of us for ten minutes and also put some bullets through all our machines. His flying was wonderful, his courage magnificent, and in my opinion, he was the bravest German airman whom it has been my privilege to see fight.”
James McCudden also wrote: “The more I fight them the more I respect them for their fighting qualities. I have on many occasions had German machines at my mercy over our lines, and they have had the choice of landing and being taken prisoners or being shot down. With one exception they chose the latter path. Further, it is foolish to disparage the powers of the German aviator, for doing so must necessarily belittle the efforts of our own brave boys, whose duty it is to fight them. The marvellous fight which Voss put up against my formation will ever leave in my mind a most profound admiration for him, and the other instances which I have witnessed of the skill and bravery of German pilots give me cause to acknowledge that the German aviators as a whole are worthy of the very best which the Allies can find to combat them.”
Lieutenant Arthur Percival Foley Rhys-Davids, DSO, MC & Bar, who had just pulled aside to change an ammunition drum, rejoined the battle with a 150-meter (490-foot) height advantage over Voss’s altitude of 450 meters (1,480 feet), and began a long flat dive on to the tail of Voss’ triplane. At point-blank range he raked Voss’ aircraft with his machine-guns before breaking off. A few seconds on Voss’s aircraft wandered into Rhys-Davids’s line of flight again in a strangely becalmed slow westward glide, Rhys-Davids again fired an extended burst into it causing its engine to stop, the two aircraft just missing a mid-air collision by inches.
James McCudden also wrote: “We arrived back at the mess, and at dinner the main topic was the wonderful fight. We all conjectured that the enemy pilot must be one of the enemy’s best, and we debated as to whether it was Richthofen or Wolff or Voss. The triplane fell in our lines, and the next morning we had a wire from the Wing saying that the dead pilot was found wearing the Boelcke collar and his name was Werner Voss. He had the ‘Ordre Pour le Mérite’. Rhys-Davids came in for a shower of congratulations, and no one deserved them better, but as the boy himself said to me, ‘Oh, if I could only have brought him down alive,’ and his remark was in agreement with my own thoughts. The next evening Barlow and Rhys-Davids each crashed a (German) two-seater near Houthoulst Forest.”
Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1) were the first squadrons to receive the new Fokker DR.1 triplane, as famously associated with the Red Baron. The first two were received on 21 August 1917. Werner Voss was perhaps the greatest exponent, scoring ten victories in just 21 days before he died in combat. On 2 November 1917, the German Idflieg (Inspektion der Fliegertruppen – “Inspectorate of Flying Troops”) grounded all remaining triplanes pending an inquiry, which showed that recent crashed DR. 1 aircrafts wings had been poorly constructed.
Leutnant Rudolf Wendelmuth of Jasta 8 reported seeing Voss’ Fokker Triplane shot down from behind by a Sopwith Camel and then smash into the ground behind the British Lines, at Plum Farm, 700 metres north of Frezenberg, Belgium, about 5 kms east of Ypres. On 30 November, Wendelmuth died in a midair collision that also killed Leutnant Wilhelm Schulz of Jagdstaffel 4
In the summer of 1917, before returning to France and joining RFC 56 squadron, James McCudden met with Frank Barnwell and Harold Barnwell (Causewayhead, Stirling), the sibling chief engineers at Vickers Limited, with whom he exchanged information on aircraft design and operations. During this period, he also met the famous ace Captain Albert Ball, VC, DSO & 2 Bars, MC who advised him of attack tactics against reconnaissance and bomber aircraft. This conversation coincided with the start of Gotha Raids in which German heavy bombers attacked England.
The first air raid of the German Bogohl 3, Gotha bomber squadron was on 25 May 1917, they were unable to reach London, so bombed the coastal town of Folkestone instead. They returned for their first attack on London on 13 June 1917 (officially named Kagohl 3, later Bogohl 3.)
McCudden attempted interceptions of the Gotha’s and on 13 June 1917, he finally got to within range of one, fired, but it swerved and resumed course. He chased the formation 21 miles (34 km) out to sea but could not get closer than 500 feet (160m). This was the same day that the German Gotha bomb fell on the Upper North Street School in Poplar, London (see The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha).
On 7 July 1917 McCudden shot down the German Gotha bomber crewed by Leutnant Erwin Kollberg and Leutnant Walter Aschoff. He damaged a second and narrowly avoided a collision with it as he flew by, he was credited with damaging a Gotha marked with the crew initials ‘KA’ near Southend.
McCudden flew Sopwith Pup, A7311, it was the personal aircraft of Captain James McCudden while he was on home duties instructing at Joyce Green, near Dartford during 1917. It was specially fitted with a Lewis gun over the upper wing and had been painted a light blue at his request. On one raid a Gotha gunner’s bullet struck his windshield.
In April 1917, Anthony Fokker had viewed a captured Sopwith Triplane while visiting Jasta 11. The Sopwith triplane first appeared over the western front in February 1917 and proved to be superior to the German Albatross fighters. Upon his return to the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke Schwerin factory, Fokker gave instructions to build a triplane for the German Luftstreitkräfte.
Royal Flying Corps 3 Squadron’s motto was “Tertius Primus Erit” – The Third shall be First. Lieutenant John Watson McCash’s commander (from 17 September 1917) was Richard Raymond-Barker, MC (6 May 1894 – 20 April 1918). Raymond-Barker was credited with six aerial victories in the First World War and was Manfred von Richthofen’s penultimate victim, a day before his own death on 20 April 1918.
In March 1918, Richthofen wrote: “I am in wretched spirits after every aerial battle. But that no doubt is an after-effect of my head wound. When I set foot on the ground again at my airfield after a flight, I go to my quarters and do not want to see anyone or hear anything. I think of this war as it really is, not as people at home imagine, with a Hoorah! And a roar. It is very serious, very grim”.
Manfred von Richthofen’s death was to come on 21 April 1918 when he was killed just after 11:00 am on 21 April 1918 while flying over Morlancourt Ridge, to the south of Albert, near the Somme River. Following an attack by the Canadian, Captain Arthur “Roy” Brown in his Sopwith Camel, a single .303 bullet from the ground hit Richthofen through the chest, severely damaging his heart and lungs; killing Richthofen in less than a minute. The sector was defended by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
Roy Brown died of a heart attack in 1944 just after posing for a photograph with the famous WW2 Canadian flying ace, George Frederick “Buzz” Beurling (known as “The Falcon of Malta” and the “Knight of Malta”). Cedric Bassett Popkin (20 June 1890 – 26 January 1968) is considered the likely person to have killed Richthofen. Popkin was an anti-aircraft (AA) machine gunner with the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
Rumey had his own personal livery painted on his airplane in addition to the squadron colours of a red nose and a green tail edged in red. The remainder of the fuselage, and the wings, were swirled with alternating black and white stripes. Smaller surfaces, such as wheel covers, wheel struts, and cabanes were alternately white and black. Another personal marking on the aircraft he used was a demon’s head.
There are two accounts of Rumey’s death on 27 September 1918, that following a mid-air collision with a Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a of 32 Squadron flown by Captain G E B Lawson. Rumey’s parachute failed to open, he threw it away and fell to his death. The second account, that during a full throttle pursuit of the S.E.5, it caused the fabric to peel off from Rumey’s upper wing and this caused his aircraft to fall from the sky and crash. Lawson survived and was awarded a DFC, Lawson later died in a flying accident in 1922.
Parachutes were used in limited numbers by the German pilots in the last months of the war. Famously, the Flying Circus Ace, Ernst Udet used one on 29 June 1918 following a mid-air crash with a French Breguet aircraft. After unfastening his safety-belt and standing up in his seat he was blown aft and his parachute harness snagged on the forward tip of the rudder. He managed to break off the rubber tip and found himself tumbling over and over down to 250 feet. Convinced that his parachute had failed it opened, and he landed spraining only his ankle.
Hermann Göring it is said also survived the war by using one, there is no evidence for this. Hermann Göring earned his living first in Denmark and later in Sweden with acrobatic flying and as salesman for automatic parachutes before he was employed as a pilot for the Swedish airline Svensk Lufttrafik. During the Second World War, Göring’s name was given to several German parachute units, including the 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring and the Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier Division 2 Hermann Göring
Leutnant Otto Könnecke survived the war, he died 25 January 1956, age 64. During the Great War he received the Pour le Mérite (Blue Max), the Goldenes Militär-Verdienstkreuz, Knight’s Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern and the Iron Cross. His tally was 35 victories.
At the Battle of Cambrai, the German artillery and infantry defences exposed the frailties of the Mark IV tank. German anti-aircraft batteries on lorries were deployed with the guns lowered to fire at the tanks, using them anti-tank artillery. By the second day of the battle only half the British tanks were still operational.
Arthur Stanley Gould Lee, MC continued his career serving through to the Second World War. In September 1944, following the coup in Romania that brought the country over from the Axis to the Allies, Lee was appointed Head of the Air Section for the British Element of the Control Commission in Romania. On 19 February 1945 he was appointed chief of the British Military Mission to the Yugoslav Government of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, with the acting rank of air vice marshal. Lee retired finally from the RAF relinquishing his acting rank on 13 July 1945. On 21 January 1946, he was permitted to retain the rank of air vice marshal.
A replica of Rumey’s Albatross aircraft was built in 2016 by The Vintage Aviator Ltd in Wellington, New Zealand. They have built several full-scale, 100% accurate reproductions of WW1 German Albatros D. Va fighters. (It may have been re-painted since then). On the side of the aircraft, there was a picture of his demon head motif, this was how his aircraft was re-painted when Richthofen took over command in July 1917 at Boistrancourt airfield (French: Aérodrome de Boistrancourt-Suererie, German: Feldflugplatz Boistrancourt). The Vintage Aviator Ltd is owned by Peter Jackson, the fifth highest-grossing film director of all-time, best known as the director, writer and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies.
The popular tragi-comic song, “The Dying Aviator” during WW1 was sung to the tune of “My Tarpaulin Jacket”: (Erk = Aircraftsman)
A young Aviator lay dying,
At the end of a bright summer’s day
[Chorus of Erks*] …Summer’s Day!
His comrades had gathered around him,
To carry his fragments away.
The crate was piled up on his wishbone.
His Lewis was wrapped ‘round his head.
…His Head!
He wore a spark plug in each elbow,
‘Twas plain he would shortly be dead.
He spat out a valve and a gasket,
As he stirred in the sump where he lay
…Where he Lay!
And then, to his wondering comrades,
These brave parting words did he say:
Take the manifold out of my larynx,
And the butterfly-valve from my neck.
…From his Neck!
Remove from my kidneys the camrods,
There’s a lot of good parts in this wreck.
Take the piston rings out of my stomach,
And the cylinders out of my brain.
…His Brain!
Extract from my liver the crankshaft,
And assemble the engine again!
Pull the longeron out of my backbone,
The turnbuckle out of my ear.
…His Ear!
From the small of my back take the rudder.
There’s all of your aeroplane here.
“I’ll be riding a cloud in the morning,
No engine before me to cuss.
…To Cuss!
Shake the lead from your feet and get busy,
There’s another lad needing this bus!
The 2008 movie, The Red Baron, starring Matthias Schweighöfer, Joseph Fiennes, Til Schweiger and Lena Headey is the best to watch in my opinion. The music is also excellent, with a couple of haunting tracks by Dirk Reichardt and Stefan Hansen and others that linger in your brain.
The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Rittmeister Richthofen left on convalescence leave on 6 September 1917, returning on 23 October 1917. Richthofen spent some of that time hunting on the estate of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (German: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), visiting his family at Schweidnitz and going to Adlershof for more consultations about aircraft design. Adlershof was the headquarters of the German Experimental Institute for Aviation (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt – DVL). During Richthofen’s time away, several fatal crashes involving the new Fokker DR.1 saw it withdrawn for modifications. They were grounded from 23 October 1917 until early December 1917.
The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha came into the British Royal Family in 1840 with the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, son of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. Queen Victoria herself was the last monarch of the House of Hanover.
The first Gotha bomber raid on London in June 1917 was to lead to public outcry and a change of name for British Royal Family. The name was changed due to domestic political pressure and public anger at the killing of children in the east end of London.
One month later, in July 1917, King George V decided to rename the British House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as it was then called to the more ‘English’ sounding name of the House of Windsor. This was to conceal the Royal Family’s links to the wartime enemy, the German Empire.
The public and political pressure to do this was due in part, to the deadly German Gotha bomber aircraft attack on London on 13th June 1917. This was a daylight attack during what became known as the First Blitz. The bombs dropped by the Gotha aircraft that day resulted in 162 fatalities and 432 injuries.
The Upper North Street School in Poplar, in the east end of London, was hit by a bomb from a Gotha GV bomber. A high explosive bomb smashed through the school roof into the girls’ classroom on the top floor, tragically killing 1 child, it then crashed down into the boys’ classroom on the middle floor, killing several more, and finally exploded in the classroom on the ground floor where there were 64 infants. In those terrible seconds, 18 children died. Of the 18 schoolchildren who were killed, most were under six years of age. Upwards of forty more children were injured.
In the wake of the bombing raid, the English bitterness towards the Germans increased tenfold. Afterwards, everything German was detested, and citizens attacked German immigrants. The connection between the name ‘Gotha’ which bombed London and the Royal family name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, did not go unnoticed.
King George V anglicized at the same time other German royal names; the Battenberg’s adopted the more English form of Mountbatten as a surname. (Battenberg from Old High German, Bettenberg, from Batto, is a personal name from Proto-West Germanic *badu (“battle”) + berg (“mountain, hill”)).
The Manchester Guardian reported, “The King has approved of the following titles being adopted:-
Duke of Teck: Marquis of Cambridge
Prince Alexander of Teck: Earl of Athlone
Prince Louis of Battenberg: Marquis of Milford Haven
Prince Alexander of Battenberg: Marquis of Carisbrooke.”
On the day after the London attack, Squadron Commander Hauptmann Ernst Brandenberg was awarded by the German Kaiser the ‘Pour Le Merite’ (Blue Max). At dawn the next morning after receiving the award, Squadron Commander Hauptmann Ernst Brandenberg, and Von Trotha, his chief pilot took off on their return flight to their base in Belgium. At a height of 300 feet the engine failed, and the plane crashed killing Von Trotha and leaving Brandenberg so badly injured that he never flew again. After the War, Brandenberg was one of the founders of the German civilian airline company, Lufthansa.
References
Anderson, A.G.D. The First World War in the Air 1914-1918: By a Fighter Pilot No. 3 Squadron Royal Flying Corps. Castle Cary Press. (No ISBN)
O’Conner, Mike. Airfields and Airmen: Cambrai. 2003. Leo Cooper/Pen & Sword Books imprint. ISBN 1-84415-958-1 (Battleground Europe Series)
Bower, Chas. Royal Flying Corps Communiqués 1917-1918. Grub Street 1998. ISBN 1-898697-79-5
Malinovska, Anna and Joslyn, Mauriel. Voices in Flight: Conversations with Air Vetrans of the Great War. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. 2006. ISBN 1-84415-399-1 & ISBN 978-1-84415-399-2
Hooten, E. R. War over the Trenches: Air Power and the Western Front Campaigns 1916-1918. Midland Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7110-3415-0
Barker, Ralph. The Royal Flying Corps in France Constable and Company Ltd. ISBN 0 09 476550 2
Henshaw, Trevor. The Sky Their Battlefield: Air Fighting and the Complete List of Allied Casualties from Enemy Action in the First World War. Grub Street. ISBN0-898697-30-2
McCudden, J.M., V.C., 1987 [1918]. Flying Fury. Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps.
IWM DOCS: Captain H Brokensha transcript (1973), 73/ 185/1. (Imperial War Museum, London)
Kilduff, Peter. The Red Baron: Beyond the Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35207-1
Barker, David Richthofen: The man and the aircraft he flew Outline Press ISBN 1.871547.06.1 (Limited Edition, Famous Flyers, Empire Interactive)
Von Richthofen, Manfred. The Red Baron (Illustrated): The Autobiography of the Most Successful Fighter Pilot of the First World War. Spitfire Publishers. ISBN 978-1609421311 (Originally published in German in late 1917 as DER ROTE KAMPFFLIEGER (THE RED AIR FIGHTER))
Hammond, Bryn. Cambrai 1917: The Myth of The First Great Tank Battle. 2009 ISBN 978-0753826058
McCudden, James. Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps. 2020 Spitfire Publishers ISBN 979-8620529414 (first published in 1918)
Long, Jack T. C. Three’s Company: An Illustrated History of No.3 (Fighter) Squadron RAF. 2005, Pen & Sword. ISBN 1-84415-158-1
Jefford, C. G. RAF Squadrons: A Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. 1998, Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-053-6
Bruce, J. M. Profile Publications, The Sopwith Camel F. 1, Number 31. 1965 (No ISBN)
Lee, Arthur Gould. No Parachute: A Classic Account of War in the Air in WWI. Grub Street Publishing. ISBN 978-1911621058
Lieutenant John Watson McCash (HU 117345) Lieutenant John Watson McCash. Unit: 6th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), attached to 35th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. Death: 22 November 1917 Western Front Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205385440
THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1917 (Q 88138) Captured British tank (I36) being transported on a German railway waggon. The tank was recovered by the German 2nd Anti-Aircraft Company (Kompanie-Flak 2) between Anneux and Graincourt-les-Havrincourt on 12 December 1917.
The tank was very likely abandonded by its crew during the Battle of Cambrai and recovered by the Germans after the battle. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205081388
THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1917 (Q 6335) Gunners of the Machine Gun Corps inspect a Lewis Gun mounted on a horizontal wheel for anti-aircraft purposes at Graincourt, 20 November 1917. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205216614
THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR (Q 67829) ‘Rules of the air – meeting another machine’. Air technical diagram of a Sopwith Dolphin and two Sopwith Camel biplanes meeting in the air and turn to the right. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205315035
BRITISH AIRCRAFT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR (Q 69306) Sopwith Camel F.1 single-seat fighter biplane. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205358430
BRITISH AIRCRAFT TYPES 1918 – 1939 (Q 68934) Sopwith Camel F.1 single-seat biplane fighter. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205357946
Fritz Rummey, This image is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
ACES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THEIR AIRCRAFT (Q 107381) Formal half-length portrait of newly promoted Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen wearing the Pour le Merité (‘The Blue Max’) awarded to him by Kaiser Wilhelm I on 1 May 1917. Richthofen took command of Jagdgeschwader 1 the following month. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205021567
THE GERMAN AIR FORCE ON THE WESTERN FRONT, 1914-1918 (Q 42283) Members of the Jagdstaffel 11 in France. The Commanding Officer, Manfred von Richthofen, is seated in his Albatros. Other pilots include; unknown (possibly Karl Allmenroeder), Hans Hintsch, Sebastian Festner, Emil Schaeffer (on wing), Kurt Wolff, Georg Simon, Otto Brauneck. In front: Esser, Lothar von Richthofen (centre) and Krefft. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205127741
Below, there is an interesting video of a ‘Comic’ version Sopwith Camel being flown off a Royal Navy ship in the Firth of Forth.
A Royal Navy instructional film showing how an RAF Sopwith Camel can be launched from the light cruiser HMS Sydney, fly to land at Rosyth seaplane base, and re-join the ship on her return, September 1918.
Full description – The Camel is mounted on a launch platform above the light cruiser’s ‘A’ Turret. The crew makes ready for launch, removing the safety netting and holding wires. The plane’s engine is turned over (very good view of the rotary engine), it builds up speed and launches directly over the turret, which is swung out to starboard. The Camel lands conventionally at an aerodrome not far from Rosyth after flying its mission. A Royal Navy groundcrew performs a quick check on the machine, then wheels it by a ramp onto a lorry. The Camel is then unbolted immediately behind the cockpit, and the two halves re-arranged one under the other on the lorry for easier transportation. The lorry arrives at the seaplane base where the aircraft is reassembled and checked over. It fails to satisfy the mechanics on a second check and another Camel is provided as a substitute. This is put on a lorry (which has a long tailboard specially designed to take the aircraft in one piece) and driven to South Arm, Rosyth. Here a crane transfers the plane to the lighter Guide Me which takes it out to the Sydney or a similar Chatham Class light cruiser. The ship’s derrick takes the Camel on board and it is fitted back onto its launch platform.